Early Life and Conversion
Derek Prince was born in India of British parents and was educated at Eton College and Kings College, Cambridge. He was a scholar of Greek and Latin, although at Cambridge he took Philosophy, specialising in logic and studying under Ludwig Wittgenstein. His MA dissertation was titled The Evolution of Plato's Method of Definition, and won him a fellowship at the age of just 24.
Under the influence of vice-chancellor Charles Raven, Prince refused to bear arms in World War II, and instead joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was posted to Scarborough for training, and while in the Army Barracks he started reading the Bible (as a philosophical self-assignment). As a consequence in July 1941 Derek had what he described as a supernatural experience', a meeting with Jesus. "Out of this encounter" he later wrote, " I formed two conclusions: first, that Jesus Christ is alive; second, that the Bible is a true, relevant, up-to-date book. These conclusions altered the whole course of my life". During the next three years, he was posted to North Africa, where he served in Egypt, the Sudan, and Palestine, and continued his bible studies.
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